Rescue Me(91)
He looked away from her.
“Morphine, please,” he said tightly.
“He didn’t mean it, Pete.”
Jess stood just outside the sodden campfire pit as Pete paced the clearing, searching for a clue, anything to tell him where Willow might have gone.
He knew Jess was trying to keep her voice soft, like he might be hurt and dangerous.
She might be right.
Don’t come home. Simple words, with so many layers.
Don’t come home, because you only hurt people. Don’t come home, because you only cause trouble. Don’t come home, because you don’t belong here anymore.
“Pete—”
“He meant it, okay?” Pete rounded on her, his jaw tight. “I know my brother, and he definitely meant it. And I agree with him. I’m not coming home until I have Willow and the kids.”
“Of course not. Everyone knows that.”
“Yeah, well, I made a promise.”
She had so much concern on her face that he added, “It’s okay, Jess. He’s like this when he’s lost it. When he cares so much he simply unravels. It’s not personal.”
Except it had felt personal for too many years.
Maybe that was the problem. Pete had been too young back then to see otherwise.
Jess glanced at Ty, then back at Pete, and he didn’t want to think about the fact that Ty and she had this sort of unspoken bond he couldn’t get his brain around.
For a second, it jerked him out of the search and into his earlier conversation with Jess. What if that was the secret—that she and Ty had already dated? She had ruled Ty out awfully fast.
No. Pete couldn’t care—not right now.
“I gotta think. Get me a map.”
Quinn had sunk down onto a log, frustration in his demeanor as he curled his arms around himself, trying not to shiver.
They should have gotten here faster. But Pete hadn’t wanted to take any chances at the river—not with Quinn. Or Jess, who had encountered impassable rapids when Bowman Creek bisected her path. She’d hiked downstream and met Pete, and he’d set up a belay system to get them across.
But they were soaked to the bone, shivering and possibly heading toward hypothermia, the way their breaths formed in the air.
“Where would they go?” Quinn said. “Sam told her to stay right here.”
Pete got that part, loud and clear, given the commotion in the ER. Gage or someone had kept the walkie toggled, and he’d heard the main parts. Like “get back in bed” and “blood,” and Sierra’s voice—“You’ve got to stop trying to save the world, Sam. Let someone help you.”
Clearly she didn’t know his brother at all.
Ty brought over a topographical map divided into search grids, with known locations printed on it. He spread it out on the soggy ground. The rain had finally turned to a fine, merely bothersome drizzle, and moisture pooled on the washable surface. “All right, we’re here, at the base of this ridge. She wouldn’t have gone back over the river, not after what Quinn told me, and there’s a kid who is hurt.”
“Vi. She’s got a broken leg,” Quinn said, heading over to them.
“Okay, so following logic and natural barriers, Willow will probably keep heading west, under the cover of this ridge.” Pete traced his finger along the markings. “The highway curls around here—she might even meet up with that.”
“Wait,” Jess said. “This is Bowman Campground, right?” She pointed to a designator on the map.
He had the strangest urge to reach out and take her hand. Just for a second pull her to himself, hold on. “Yeah.”
“Then right here”—she put her thumb into the grid and measured it out, pointed to a valley in the map, not far from Polebridge—“is Ainihkiwa.”
“What?” Ty said.
“Willow’s mother’s commune. It’s just inside the park—officially billed as a travel hostel. Grandfathered inside the boundaries, southeast of the inner highway.”
“That’s about three miles from here,” Pete said. “I suppose it’s worth a shot.”
“It absolutely is,” Jess said. She looked at Quinn. “Although I’m worried about this one.”
Quinn frowned at her. “I’m fine.”
“Apparently. Outrun a bear, live through a van falling off a cliff, save Sam’s life. Like father, like son, Quinn Starr.” Jess winked at him.
Even Pete smiled at the way heat rose into the teen’s face. “Okay, Captain America, let’s get going.”
Quinn led the way, Ty behind him. Pete fell back with Jess.
“I got the story from Quinn,” Pete said to her. “They went over the edge, and believe it or not, a tree slowed them down, kept them from going over. The van apparently fell about fifteen feet to a little ledge, then the next day, they all managed to get out before it went over. Willow climbed down to get the ropes, and they belayed down.”